Going Postal
by Naitachal666
Summary: Forced to play the part of an adult from a very young age, he’s just a broken child inside that needs to grow up. He didn’t mean to do it. It was an accident, a misunderstanding.
1. Chapter 1

Going Postal

Summary: Forced to play the part of an adult from a very young age, he's just a broken child inside that needs to grow up. He didn't mean to do it. It was an accident, a misunderstanding.

Alright, this prologue is rather short, but I'm hoping I make up for it in way of presenting my story. Not sure when the next chap will be up, especially since I've gotten on a new kick and come up with two or three more wonderful story ideas I couldn't resist starting on.

DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Naruto or its characters. They are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. Please review. It helps me get the stories out sooner.

The young man stared at the soft whiteness before him. He sat on his rear in the corner of a small room, knees pulled to his chest and his face lowered , his warm breath moving through the cloth of his pants to touch the skin of his knees. His eyes were half-lidded and dry from staying open so long. As they drifted shut for only an instant, his body tensed and his arms pulled tighter to himself within their restraints. His eyes were wide open, staring sleeplessly forward at the far wall.

The man's only observer was a single dome security camera and the pale white flicker of the single pane of fluorescent lights on the ceiling. For months, the camera had recorded the young man. The video it recorded was scanned by high ranking hospital officials, trying to determine if maybe this time there was something new. But always the camera only showed the man's almost skeletal body slumped over its knees in the corner, staring with wide eyes at the far wall in a blatant refusal to sleep lest the nightmares come once again.

Sometimes, he would rock back and forth, his now waist-length black hair shifting over his bony shoulders and the cloth of the straight jacket. Other times, other people would enter the room. He never looked at them, eyes staring vacantly through them in an attempt to not see anything at all. They would manage to feed him, manage to somehow get him to rise to shuffle to the bathroom and use its facilities, all without batting a lash. They would look at him, put drops in his eyes since he seemed to insist on keeping them open. They pulled at the tired and bruised flesh beneath them, using a flashlight and peering into the bloodshot eyes. They all shook their heads and agreed. He would go blind if he would not close them, would not sleep.

Their lips moving silently in the camera's two-toned eye, they prodded him and used instruments on him, all in an attempt to asses if his condition had changed. They knew he would not stay awake for much longer and his eyes would slip shut in exhaustion. His body would lie motionless for hours in a sleep akin to being dead. Then his body would jerk, spasming and his lips would open in a soundless plea for mercy. His once fair face would retract into a rictus of agony and silent screams. All of this the camera watched with its empty black eye.

Then one day, it observed something different. The young man, his body listing weakly against the padded wall, shifted his head to stare at the door as it opened. In the black and white glare of the security monitor in a room further down the hall, a slight glistening of reflected light revealed itself, sliding down the man's sunken cheeks to drip, glittering, to the plush carpeted floor.


	2. Chapter 2

This is the second chapter of Going Postal. No, it will NOT be Uchihacest. Probably Yaoi, though. This nicely compliments the first chapter, I think. Does it to you? Review and tell me, ne?

DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Naruto or its characters. They are the property of Masashi Kishimoto.

"Ohayo, Itachi-kun." The young nurse stepped into the room and squatted on her heels in front of the long haired boy. "There's someone here to see you." There was no response, but she hadn't expected one. The nurses had stopped hoping for a reaction years ago. Now, she stood and walked back to the door, opening it to let a teenager in.

"He hasn't changed. He just gets worse and worse," were her whispered words to the newcomer. Silently, he nodded and walked over towards the man leaning against the wall. When there, he just stood for a long moment. Finally, he got down on his knees and reached a hand out to brush away lank strands of hair before taking Itachi's chin in his hand and turning it so that Itachi faced him.

"Itachi." For a long moment, the nurse and the boy stared hopefully, but sighed when there was no reaction. There was nothing to indicate that Itachi had gotten any better. All the signs pointed to Itachi's continuing failing health. Letting go of his brother's chin, Sasuke stood and began to turn. The nurse was already halfway to the door with Sasuke close on her heels when he heard it; a single gasping sob.

The muffled sound stopped Sasuke in his tracks. Turning, he rushed to his brother's side. The nurse, looking back through the door to see what was taking him so long, spun around and ran towards the nurses station calling for Itachi's doctor.

Itachi had only slumped in further upon himself, burying his face in his knees. But the difference was major. It was as if he had shook off a part of his haze, letting the tears through. Now, Sasuke transferred Itachi's head to his shoulder and patted the older Uchiha on his hunched and bony back as he cried. An image of holding a skeleton covered in cloth flashed into Sasuke's mind but he quickly pushed it away when the thought made goose bumps rise on his skin. Instead of letting go, he held his brother tighter to himself and rocked both of them just a little back and forth.

Moments later, the nurse stepped back into the room with Itachi's psychiatrist in tow. They tried to pull Itachi away from Sasuke, and would have succeeded if the younger Uchiha did not have such an iron knuckled grip on Itachi's straight jacket.

"Let him be! Just let him get it out!" Sasuke snarled at the surprised doctor, baring his teeth and holding Itachi closer. Wordlessly, the doctor stepped back and let Sasuke hold Itachi until Itachi seemed to relax somewhat. Only then Dr. Tamichi walk up and slowly pull Itachi back.

Itachi's face was red, but few tears had been shed. His eyes were simply too dry to produce many of their own. Strings of thick spittle hung from his open mouth and his eyes were closed for the first time in hours. His brows were furrowed deeply with relentless emotion and a low keening emitted from somewhere deep within his thin chest.

He was horrible to look at, sunken cheeks and eyes little more than fleshed out sockets spoke of suffering and pain far beyond that which any sane person can understand. And as much as others though it so, it was not Itachi's fault. He had been pushed past the brink of sanity at an early age and had hidden it well. It wasn't many years later that he had cracked under the pressure. Long years of research into the way Itachi had been raised and the horrible amounts of pressure he had received to be perfect were discovered to have lent the perfect mix for a storm of monumental proportions.

And monumental it was. All over the newspapers, headlined on the covers, and at the top of every magazine in the country: THIRTEEN YEAR OLD MASSACRES HIS FAMILY, LEAVES YOUNGER BROTHER ALIVE. It was on TV for weeks and the talk of every radio station.

Uchiha Itachi had cracked and his family had paid the ultimate price.

He had been put in jail, even as a minor. Unspeakable things had happened to him there. It was in the news the next day: UCHIHA KILLS AGAIN. He was moved to a padded cell in the Psychiatric Institute of Konoha, where he proceeded to huddle in a corner and try to claw his eyes out with his nails. That was when he was placed in the straight jacket. Over the next few months, Itachi's carefully and painstakingly crafted shell slipped and shattered. He was utterly and uselessly mad. After a time, he had become despondent, showing nothing except during his sleep. Now, years later, some small bit of emotion was peeking through.

There, in the same padded cell seven years after his brother murdered his family in a fit of rage and anguish, Sasuke brushed the few tears from Itachi's face and wiped the greasy bangs out of his swollen and bloodshot eyes. He let his sleeve wipe away the strings of spittle and pulled the hair out of the way. There was a lot of it.

"Dr. Tamichi, I think he should be moved." Sasuke's voice was hoarse with suppressed emotion. He couldn't stand to see Itachi dying like this, in this white place with its white walls and white lights. He looked at Itachi's shivering form, huddled in on itself beside him. Again, he put his fingers to Itachi's chin and faced his brother towards himself.

"Itachi." Darkly bruised eyelids fluttered and twitched. "Itachi." Slowly, Itachi's eyes opened to stare into Sasuke's. There was something blank and hazy about the way Itachi looked at him, but in those red eyes there was pain. Fear. Confusion. So many emotions that Itachi didn't know how to voice. Parched lips parted and a strangled sound emerged. It was a horrid sound, a sound like pulling a boot from sucking mud. Sasuke didn't care. He knew what it was.

"Yes, Itachi." Sasuke looked deeply into his brother's eyes, seeing a trace of hope momentarily brightening those dull orbs. "It's me. Sasuke." The sound came again, louder this time, like some creature forcing itself upwards out of the muck.

"Yes. Sasuke, your little brother." Sasuke let his other palm rest against the side of Itachi's face, his thumb rubbing the hollow that was his cheek as a single tear slid down. "I'm gonna get you out of here, Itachi. I'm gonna get you out." Sasuke was crying now, tears running down his cheeks to the point of his chin as he stared into his brother's eyes. "I'm gonna get you out, Itachi. Just wait and see." He reached forward and hugged his brother, and Itachi leaned into the embrace. It was a weak motion, more like letting Sasuke pull himself towards him, but it was there.

"I have to go Itachi. But I'm gonna be back, and I'm gonna get you out. Just you see." With that, Sasuke gave one final squeeze and stood. "Get better for me, Itachi. Don't die." He began to step away and Itachi made his noise again. Leaning down and brushing the tear from Itachi's eye, fifteen year old Sasuke kissed his brother on the forehead and promised him he would come back. The world was full of promises that day.

Sasuke stepped out of the car his court appointed foster father had parked and ambled up the steps of the dainty middleclass two story house he lived in. The man pulled his keys out of the car and followed. He had meant to ask Sasuke a question, but the boy was unusually silent. More so than usual, and there was a certain look in his eyes. It had been uncomfortably silent during the ride home.

"Sasuke, how is Itachi?" Madura Ichigo asked. He expected the usual answer, the typical 'He's not getting any better…' He was stunned at Sasuke's next words.

"He tried to speak to me. He cried when he knew who I was." Sasuke was standing a few feet away with his head down and his back to Ichigo. His voice was odd, as if held between tears and joy. "I think…no, I know. He's getting better." Those were the last words Sasuke spoke to anyone in his foster family for the rest of the night. In the morning, he stayed brooding quietly in the corner of the living room. Finally, the call he was waiting for came, and Sasuke picked up the phone.

"Hello." It was less of a greeting than usual, something was missing from it because he knew what they were calling about and what they would say.

"Uchiha Sasuke? This is Dr. Tamichi. Do you think you could come back today, if its not interfering with your schedule? Itachi's asking for you --"

"I know." Sasuke spoke with all the certainty in the world.

"You know?" The doctor's voice was surprised.

"I knew he would. I'll be there. Tell him I'm coming." Sasuke hung up the phone with an audible click and went to go get his shoes. His foster father had been in the room the entire conversation and was already headed to the kitchen to get his keys. They stepped outside at almost the same time and got into the same dark green car as yesterday. Somehow, the ride was even more uncomfortably silent than the ride home the night before. Sasuke shifted several times in his seat, but made no effort to speak looking down when his eyes met Ichigo's in the rearview mirror.

Finally, they pulled to a stop in one of the Institute's parking spots and Sasuke almost jumped when he realized they were there. He scrambled out of the car and shut his door, wincing at the loud sound. Standing there and smoothing the creases in his shorts, it seemed like the longest moment in Sasuke's life. They entered the institute and registered. Dr. Tamichi was already waiting for them in the lobby.

"Hello, Sasuke. If you would come right this way…" The doctor led him to a different section of the Institute than the one Itachi had been in before. "He's in here." The doctor slid his card in the lock-pad and pushed open the door.

Thank you fror reading and please review.


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